I’ve always felt like I couldn’t make good pictures during the winter. I don’t mind meandering around in the cold, and I find the winter light to be quite beautiful, but things seem duller. Maybe it’s the lack of greenery or less activities happening outside, but January and February are two months that my camera rarely comes out of the bag.
I had planned to make an Instagram post everyday this year, made it a total of five days.
So, here’s some other things I’ve been occupying my time with during these cold1 days.
True Detective: Night Country (No spoilers)
One episode in and I’m intrigued but on the fence. The setting I really love and the notion of the literal darkness always being around is a good backdrop. The narrative and case(s) have a lot of meat on the bone, but I’m a tad worried there’s going not going to be enough time to properly tell the story in six episodes. My only other complaint so far is the CGI animals, they are quite jarring to me in how fake they feel.
The Nick Saban retirement and fall-out
The greatest college football coach of all time hanging it up was welcome news to this dawg fan. I’m glad Kirby got to slay the dragon once2 , but it will be weird to see Alabama without Mr. Little Debbie Cookies3 In the meantime, I’m enjoying the rollercoaster of emotions that Alabama fans are currently experiencing and that is showcased no better than on the Paul Finebaum show.
The Diorama’s of Lee Harper
Using nothing pre-fabricated or 3D printed, Lee Harper creates diorama’s of famous local haunts and juke joints in Mississippi, including Junior’s Place, the legendary spot of blues icon Junior Kimbrough4 . See her work here.
King Cake Season
I have been obsessed with New Orleans5 after visiting for the first time a couple of years ago. That obsession also entails carnival season and it’s history6 which I love looking at old photographs of the costumes and masks. Residing in west Georgia, I don’t have many options when it comes to King Cake7 , so I decided to try my hand at making one. I did a no-braid recipe, and it turned out quite well. The flavor was excellent, as was the brown sugar cream cheese filling, but I think my yeast ratio was off and the cake was a little to large which caused some issues in the baking.
Hank Hill Cover Songs
Finally, AI that is doing some good. I can’t get enough of these AI generated covers sung by Hank Hill.8
And finally a collection of random images I’ve recently saved.
*Turns out you can’t footnote a title, but here’s a little backstory on this. I was going to participate in the practice of “Dry January” this year, but I decided I very much enjoy the ritual of drinking beer while watching football. So between the National Championship game and the NFL Playoffs, I’ve cut down on the drinking except for these days. I know many folks have a problem with the word moist, but I’m not one of those people. I’m using it here because back in 2007, I was camping in Kentucky on a trip to visit Mammoth Cave. We went to the local Wal-Mart for some supplies, and walked up and down the aisles searching for beer and never finding it. At the check-out, we asked the cashier if we were in a dry county. She replied, “No, it’s a moist county.” Puzzled, we had to clarify what that meant, and she told us it meant you could buy alcohol at restaurants, but not at stores. Of course we drove to the next county to load up.
Temps in the single digits and “snow” days at school because of the low temps.
When it mattered most, in the 2021 National Championship game.
https://fanbuzz.com/college-football/sec/alabama/nick-saban-little-debbies/ Always found it hilarious that he called them cookies and not cakes.
Kimbrough sings on of my all time favorite songs, Meet Me in the City. This is the best version you will find.
Except the Aint’s. Sports are dumb, but the Falcons/Saints rivalry is the closest the NFL gets to rivalry week in college football.
If you’re a Mobile, AL person, I see you.
We do have one local place that makes them, and sometimes the Publix or Kroger will have them, but usually only during the week leading up to Mardi Gras.
Do some searching and you’ll find some with duets with Bobby.
Me too, that’s why I saved it! Felt like I had a completely different image of him in my head.
“Meet Me in the City” rules!! And do you know that’s the first photo of Jimmy Sexton I’ve EVER seen??